PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups — Removal Guide

PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups is a detection name used by antivirus software to identify a potentially unwanted application (PUA) that belongs to the Win32/MiniPopups family.

PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups specifically refers to a particular variant or instance of the PUA that displays unwanted advertising or pop-up windows on the user’s system.

Potentially unwanted applications are programs that may not be inherently malicious but exhibit behavior or characteristics that users may find undesirable or intrusive. In the case of PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups, the application is known for displaying excessive advertisements, pop-ups, or other forms of unwanted commercial content.

These unwanted advertisements can disrupt the user’s browsing experience, slow down the system, and potentially lead to privacy concerns if the ads collect personal information without consent.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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Any type of malware exists with the only target – make money on you¹. And the developers of these things are not thinking about morality – they use all possible tactics. Taking your personal data, getting the payments for the banners you watch for them, exploiting your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies – that is not the full list of what they do. Do you like to be a riding horse? That is a rhetorical question.

What does the pop-up with PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups detection mean?

The PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups detection you can see in the lower right corner is demonstrated to you by Microsoft Defender. That anti-malware software is good at scanning, however, prone to be mainly unreliable. It is defenseless to malware attacks, it has a glitchy user interface and bugged malware clearing features. Therefore, the pop-up which states about the MiniPopups is rather just a notification that Defender has actually detected it. To remove it, you will likely need to use a separate anti-malware program.

Microsoft Defender: “PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups”

PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups unwanted program is a case in point of PUA, which are quite widespread nowadays. Being free to use, it can provide you “the extended functionality” for the additional money. Some instances of this program type can have no real functions at all – just the shell with the colorful interface. You can see it promoted as a system optimization tool, driver updater or torrent downloadings tracker. This or another way it does not give you any kind of true functionality, exposing you to risk instead.

Unwanted Program Summary:

Is PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups dangerous?

I have already stated that PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups PUA is not as safe as it claims to be. The “legit and useful” application can unexpectedly discover itself as a downloader trojan, spyware, backdoor, or coin miner malware. And you can never figure out what to look for even from different examples of MiniPopups unwanted program. That still does not say that you have to panic – perhaps, this unpleasant thing has not succeeded to do poor things to your PC.

The exact harm to your system can be created not just due to the malware injection. A considerable share of doubtful programs, like the MiniPopups application is, is just poorly programmed. Potentially, their actions are rather effective than useless if done on certain system setups, however, not on each one. That’s how a basic system optimization app can cause chaos with continuous BSODs on your system. Any type of interruptions to the system registry are risky, and they are much more unsafe if completed with such programs.

How did I get this virus?

It is difficult to line the origins of malware on your computer. Nowadays, things are mixed up, and spreading methods utilized by adware 5 years ago can be utilized by spyware nowadays. But if we abstract from the exact distribution method and will think about why it has success, the explanation will be pretty basic – low level of cybersecurity understanding. Individuals click on ads on strange websites, open the pop-ups they get in their web browsers, call the “Microsoft tech support” believing that the strange banner that says about malware is true. It is necessary to understand what is legit – to prevent misunderstandings when trying to identify a virus.

Microsoft Tech Support Scam

Nowadays, there are two of the most widespread ways of malware distribution – bait e-mails and also injection into a hacked program. While the first one is not so easy to avoid – you should know a lot to understand a fake – the second one is very easy to handle: just do not utilize hacked apps. Torrent-trackers and other sources of “totally free” applications (which are, in fact, paid, but with a disabled license checking) are just a giveaway place of malware. And PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups is just within them.

How to remove the PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups from my PC?

PUAAdvertising:Win32/MiniPopups malware is extremely hard to remove manually. It places its data in a variety of places throughout the disk, and can get back itself from one of the elements. Moreover, numerous modifications in the registry, networking configurations and Group Policies are fairly hard to find and change to the original. It is much better to utilize a specific program – exactly, an anti-malware program. GridinSoft Anti-Malware will fit the best for virus elimination purposes.

Why GridinSoft Anti-Malware? It is very light-weight and has its detection databases updated practically every hour. Moreover, it does not have such problems and weakness as Microsoft Defender does. The combination of these facts makes GridinSoft Anti-Malware suitable for taking out malware of any kind.

Remove the viruses with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

• Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. After the installation, you will be offered to perform the Standard Scan. Approve this action.

• Standard scan checks the logical disk where the system files are stored, together with the files of programs you have already installed. The scan lasts up to 6 minutes.

• When the scan is over, you may choose the action for each detected virus. For all files of MiniPopups the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.

1. Read about malware types on GridinSoft Threat encyclopedia.